In respect of the Productivity Places Program:

(1)   As at 12 August 2009, how many job seekers, by payment type, (a) were enrolled in (b) had commenced, and (c) had completed a qualification under the program.

(2)   As at 12 August 2009, what were the (a) employment outcomes, by payment type, and (b) average employment outcomes, for job seekers who had successfully completed a qualification under the program.

(1)   As at 12 August 2009, there were (a) 132 176 enrolments*, (b) 110 770 commencements**, and (c) 55 383 completions. This data cannot be disaggregated by payment type. *Under the PPP ‘enrolments’ are participants that have applied, met the programs eligibility criteria and were expected to commence training within six weeks of their approval. ** ‘Commencements’ are recorded when an approved training organisation has commenced delivery of formal training to the eligible participant for an eligible qualification - this milestone triggers the first of two PPP payments - the other being the completion milestone.

(2)   As at 12 August 2009, 40 193 job seekers that were referred by an Employment Service Provider (ESP) had completed a PPP qualification and (a) 5 859 of these achieved an ‘employment outcome’. The distribution of ‘employment outcomes’ across payment type is described in Table 1. No data exists on (b) average employment outcomes. As the states and territories are delivering job seeker places progressively through 2009, performance data is not yet available. Reports demonstrating progress against output targets are due 31 January 2010.

Table 1: Employment outcomes by payment type for ESP referred job seekers that had completed a PPP qualification